


First Day.

by EmmyGreene



Series: Opening Lines. [2]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - No Zombies, Daryl Dixon & Beth Greene Friendship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Other, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Underage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 03:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10868505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyGreene/pseuds/EmmyGreene
Summary: Inspired by the opening line to 'Speak' by Laure Halse Anderson“It’s the first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate and a stomach ache”Beth gets sick on the bus to school, luckily she's sitting in front of Daryl Dixon who looks after her and she finds herself able to confide in him.





	First Day.

**Author's Note:**

> Very different Bethyl story for me as obviously Beth is way too underage for anything else to happen between them in this story. It also went in a really different direction than I'd originally planned and there's obviously some elements of 'Speak' in this story... though I read it over ten years ago so I'm not entirely sure how much! 
> 
> I know Daryl doesn't always talk this much but I was thinking a lot about the scene after Lori dies when he's talking to Carl about losing his own mom and I felt that's how he'd approach this.
> 
> and as always, I'm not American so apologies for any colloquialisms etc that aren't quite right...

_“It’s the first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate and a stomach ache”_

**_Speak_ , Laurie Halse Anderson **

 

Beth Greene nervously tucked her hair behind her ears as she boarded the bus. It was her first day at a high school and she felt sick to her stomach about it. She’d spent most of the summer avoiding what few friends she’d made at middle school. She had always been a quiet girl, happy to live in the shadows of her brother and sister. They’d also attended this high school and were practically legends; everyone had loved them. She felt clammy as she fussed with her hair again and took an empty seat, then stared out the window, watching the farms pass by.  The high school was three towns over; so far away she had to take the public bus rather than a school one. Right now she was thankful for that. At least she could start her day alone. They passed three stops without any students boarding but each moment they grew closer to the school she felt a little worse. The knot in her stomach tightened and her pulse quickened.

She felt bile rise in the back of her throat and tried to push it back down but this queasy feeling was all too familiar.  She tried to take a sip of water but ended up throwing up all over the seat.

‘Fuck’ she heard the man behind her sigh but he stood up to look over the seat.

‘You OK?’ he asked her, he had blue eyes and was wearing a leather vest, the sleeves torn off his shirt. She supposed he looked rather rough but his gruff voice had a hint of kindness too it.

She shook her head. This wasn’t the first time she’d been so nervous she made herself sick. And now she’d have to start her school year covered in her own spew. She opened her bag and tried to pull paper from her brand new notebooks to clean herself up when the man offered her a bandana.

‘Clean yerself up’ he said.

‘I can’t’ she whispered, gesturing he should put it away.

He stood up and moved to stand in the aisle beside her.

‘Aww shit, y’can’t start school like that’ he said.

‘Driver, we got a girl throwin’ up back here’ called another man, sitting a few rows behind them.

‘Off the bus’ the driver suddenly halted the bus, throwing everyone forward in the process.

‘Get off’ he said. ‘Can’t have that’

‘but, but’ Beth struggled to think of what to say.

‘Off’ the driver called again.

‘It’s ok’ the man in the vest said, he reached his hand out to her.

She reached for it and he helped pull her off then lead her off the bus.

‘fuck you’ he called to the driver as they disembarked.

‘it’s my first day of high school’ Beth said flatly.

Daryl shrugged ‘yer not gonna miss much on the first day.’

The knot in Beth’s stomach somehow tightened and she felt herself ready to go again. She turned just in time to miss hitting his boots.

‘Y’sick or nervous?’ he asked her.

‘Nervous’ she replied.

They walked away from the vomit.

‘I better call my Momma to come get me’ she said.

‘Do that and she’ll take you home, get you clean’d up then take ya to that school yer so worried about’ the man said, lighting up a cigarette.

He offered her one and she pulled a face.

‘If I don’t, I’m stuck in smelly clothes waiting for the bus to take me back home in an hour, if he lets me on’ she replied.

He shook his head. ‘Next stop was mine anyway, my bikes waiting there, reckon you can walk that far?’

She pulled a confused face. ‘And then you’ll take me home?’

‘If ya want. Or to yer school, or we get you into a clean shirt and ya can tell me what it is about that school that’s got ya so worked up.’

She paused to consider his offer.

‘Why’re you bein’ so nice to me?’

‘I was nervous on my first day of high school too.’

He started walking and she followed along.

‘I’m Beth’ she said after a moment.

‘Daryl’ he said, still staring straight ahead.

They were walking on the side of a highway now, a Big Box store just ahead.

‘Got any money?’ he asked her.

She nodded.

‘Go get a clean shirt.’ She nodded again and slipped inside, her heart pounding. She still felt nervous but now it as an entirely different kind.

She quickly grabbed a clean yellow polo shirt from the front of the store and changed in the bathroom, stuffing the soft pink blouse she’d picked out just for today into her bag.

She took a moment to clean herself up at the sink, stopping to look at herself in the mirror.

‘Who are you?’ she asked herself. She was not the kind of girl who skipped school, or followed strange men she met on the bus around. Although after this summer, she didn’t know what kind of girl she was. She’d made bad decisions and maybe this was just another one; but with every moment she didn’t have to face a day at school, she felt her stomach settle.

Back out front she found Daryl waiting, smoking another cigarette.

‘Feel better?’ he asked, taking in the sight of her.

She nodded.

‘Smell better too’ he said and they continued walking to the bus depot behind the store. Daryl headed straight to a large motor bike.

‘I’ve never been on one before’ Beth said quietly.

‘First time for everythin’ he said, and then motioned that she should climb on behind him.

She felt awkward, she didn’t know where to put her hands and it felt strange to hold onto someone she hardly knew. Then again, it turned out it was people you do know that were the problem and if this was reckless, well maybe that’s just what she needed to be right now.

‘Hold on tight’ he called before taking off. She didn’t know where they were headed and was surprised when they ended up at a large wooden playground she’d spent many an afternoon at as a child. She was relieved to see they were in a public place; he hadn’t whisked her off to a hidden ravine or some redneck cabin.

‘You bring all the girls here?’ she asked.

‘Only the ones that should be in school’ he said.

There were toddlers running around the sandpit, preschool kids near the swings and round-a-bout, but the large wooden fort was abandoned, the ladders too big for the little kids to climb.

He climbed up and she followed him. He lit another cigarette.

‘That’s a bad habit’ she said.

He nodded then offered her one again.

They sat there in silence for a moment before finally he spoke.

‘So you wanna talk about school?’

She shrugged. ‘First day at a new school, it’s normal to be nervous right.’

‘Not that nervous’ he said.

She nodded.

‘I had a...weird summer and now I can’t face everyone’.

She looked down at the ground. Suddenly he noticed the scar on her wrist and could only assume what it was.

‘weird how?’ he asked.

She didn’t know this man, Daryl, but she felt she could trust him. She liked the way he wasn’t pushy. That he asked short questioned and gave her time to answer, to think about what she wanted to say.

‘I had a fight with my best friend’ she said quietly.

He wanted to role his eyes but gut feeling told him it was something more than that. He saw something of himself in her, the way her eyes stayed down and she hunched over. The way she was so scared she made herself sick. That’s exactly how he felt coming home from his first day of the ninth grade, knowing he had to face his drunk father solo after his brother left that morning.

He didn’t say anything, he just waited quietly.

‘You probably think that’s pretty stupid huh?’ she asked.

‘Not stupid if it’s upset you’ he said.

‘Do you wanna know what we fought about?’

He could sense she was building up to something and just didn’t quite know how to say it.

‘Only if you wanna tell me’ he said.

‘I had sex with her boyfriend.’ She said it flatly and again he felt she was going to add to the story.

‘and his best friend. And her cousin. I don’t remember it though. They  slipped something into my drink.’

At this he whipped his head around ‘your Hershel Greene’s daughter?’

She nodded slowly looking up at him ‘how’d you know?’

He shook his head. ‘My brother was at the party, selling drugs. They found you drunk?’

She nodded. ‘Yeah, the Police did, only I wasn’t drunk.’ She said. ‘I was just woozy, looked like I was and Mr. Grimes, he’s an old friend of my Daddy’s so he called him to pick me up.’

‘Merle, that’s my piece a shit brother, he got arrested that night. Said he saw yer Pops at the station collecting one of his drunken kids. Then a couple’a days later, got stuck behind some kids on the bus ta Atlanta, talkin’ bout some party the Police shut down, said that....’  he stopped talking and looked down.

‘Said what?’ she asked.

‘Well they said they heard the younger Greene girl was jus’ like her sister cuz she’d been with a few boys that night. ‘N I remembered what Merle said ‘bout you bein’ at the station an, well, we’ve sold moonshine ta yer brother a few times so I thought maybe all ya Greene kids were a little wild like that.’

He looked up and noticed Beth was crying.

‘Sorry’ he mumbled. ‘I shouldn’t a said that’

She shook her head, ‘It’s OK. It’s what I’ve heard all summer. Everyone thinks I was drunk and slept with all those boys and...and I don’t even remember how it happened. I jus’ woke up in there.’

‘Ya didn’t tell the cops?’ Daryl asked her.

She shook her head.

‘I was too scared.’

Daryl nodded. He understood that, being the victim and somehow feeling like it was your fault.

‘Ya wanna tell them now? I can take ya there, no time limit on reportin’ it’ he said.

She shook her head ‘it’s just my word against theirs now. There’d be no traces of if left in my blood. A whole bunch of people ready to say I was drunk even though I never drank once, not after seein’ what it did to my Daddy. They’d never admit it.’ She said.

He nodded ‘So yer just gonna avoid them all year?’ he said.

She shrugged, her tears falling. ‘I don’t know.’

They sat there for a moment. He was unsure what to do. He felt she’d needed someone to talk to but now he had a crying teenager next to him. One of the mothers with a toddler on her hip wandered over.

‘Everything alright up there?’ she asked, eyeing Daryl suspiciously.

‘We’re OK. Beth here got sick on the school bus this morning, just gettin’ some fresh air’ he said.

The lady didn’t look convinced. She touched Beth on the leg dangling from the fort ‘Is that right sweetheart?’ she asked.

Beth nodded ‘Yeah, I just needed some time. He’s going to take me there after recess.’

She nodded slowly ‘Well as long as you’re sure. We’ll be here another hour, you can come to us if you need anything’ she said in a sugary voice.

‘Thanks’ Beth said wiping her eyes. The lady wandered off and Beth shrugged at Daryl.

‘They see a young girl with an older guy and everyone panics. Nobody says anything when it’s the high school football team.’

He nodded, and then pointed at her wrist, ‘That somehow connected to all this too?’

She nodded tilting head down again.

‘I was so ashamed. I tried to... it was dumb, I, it’s just a superficial wound. My sister looked after it and told my Momma. She said all the young girls are doin’ it for attention and they believed her. They realised me and Katie weren’t talkin’ and I think... I think parents just believe what they want to believe.’

‘Ya didn’t tell your parents either?’ he asked.

She shook her head ‘too embarrassing.’

‘If they knew, that might be able to help.’

‘How?’ she asked.

‘They could send you to that Parish school, or that smaller school the farmers kids go to’ he said ‘they could get you some therapy’.

‘Maybe’ she said.

He looked at her seriously ‘When I was in yer position, there wasn’t anyone t’help me, cause it was my Pops doin’ the hurting and my Momma was dead. Yer Pops is a good man, met him plenty a times with my old dog.  Ya don’t sort it out know it eats ya up inside an ya grow up into nothing.’

She was taken aback by his frankness.

‘Yer Daddy...’ she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

‘Beat me. Whipped me. Never had any money an’ it was always my fault’ he said. ‘Took me a long time to realise he was wrong. Too long.’

‘I’m sorry’ she said.

‘’M sorry bout what those boys did t’ya.’ He said in reply.

‘But ya got people that love ya, that can help ya.’

She nodded then sat there a while turning Daryl’s words over in her mind, contemplating how she could ever bring herself to tell her parents what happened.

‘Does my Daddy know who you are?’ she asked quietly.

‘Like I said, used to take my dog to him sometimes, and he came out to put down a cow I ran over.’

She smiled lightly and looked at him. She realised now who he was, one of those trailer park boys that sold moonshine and drugs to underage kids. He was one of those guys who never went anywhere and yet he was so nice to her and she felt somehow connected to him. They’d both had their own struggles and he was proof of what happened if you didn’t deal with it, if you didn’t let anyone in to help.

‘Will you come in with me and tell them?’

He looked a little awkward at the suggestion but nodded.

‘Sure but you gotta call them first an tell them we’re comin’, I turn up with you on the bike without warnin’, they might not wanna hear what I got ta say.’

She nodded and took out her cell phone, she quickly dialled the number then froze when her father answered.

‘Bethy, Bethy I think you mighta butt dialled me’ Daryl could hear Hershel’s voice coming through the phone.

Lamely, she held it over to Daryl.

‘Mr. Greene, its, uh, its Daryl Dixon, I’ve got Beth here with me’

‘Is she alright?’ Daryl could hear the panic in his voice, clearly worried about his daughter.

‘She’s OK, she got a bit sick on the school bus, I’m gonna bring her home in a minute.’

‘Thank you Daryl, you know where the farm is right?’

‘Yeah, see you soon.’

He handed the phone back to Beth.

‘Probably best if y’do somma tha talkin’ when we get there’ he said then noticed that pale look from earlier this morning back on her skin ‘or let me fill in the gaps. Either way’.

She nodded. He was older than her, a lot older but that didn’t seem to matter. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so at ease around someone.

‘Why were you on that bus this morning?’ she asked him.

‘It’s the long way back from visitin’ by brother, back in prison. I caught the wrong one. It’s been a long night’ he said.

She smiled, maybe it wasn’t fair on him but to her it was fate. She needed someone like him to step into her life and help her put things right. Maybe she didn’t need a guardian angel, just a shaggy looking man in angel wings to see what was really going on. Anyone else would have ignore that sick teenager on a public bus but here he was, going out of his way to help her.

They walked back to his bike and headed to the Greene family home where Beth found both her parents waiting for her.

‘Momma, Daddy, there’s something I gotta tell you’ she whispered.


End file.
